‘A Big Stone to Conquer’ : Gagne’s Memory Is Fresh, but Voice Betrays Him

Greg Gagne sits in the shade of the Dodger dugout by himself, wishing that it was in his nature to call teammates together for a heart-to-heart. This is a quiet team, however, and Gagne is a quiet guy, who says, “Besides, I don’t feel it’s my place. I’ve only been here a little while.”

The shortstop is one of only two Dodgers who has won a World Series, pitcher Mark Guthrie being the other. Todd Worrell did save two games for the St. Louis Cardinals in relief against Gagne and the Minnesota Twins during the 1987 World Series, and outfielder Wayne Kirby got to bat for the Cleveland Indians against the Atlanta Braves once last October, striking out. But their fingers are ring-free.

If the guy they call “Gags” could bring himself to do it, he would gather the Dodgers together before today’s Game 1 of the National League playoffs against Atlanta, simply to remind them that the Braves are no more unbeatable than they were on that wild World Series night of 1991, when he, Guthrie and the Twins became champions. He would talk that talk Kirby Puckett talked, proud and loud.

“Maybe I should call a meeting, I don’t know,” Gagne says.

“I came in after we lost Sunday’s game, and I could see how a lot of guys took it hard. It was a weird feeling, realizing that we still had a shot at winning the World Series.

“I’d like to tell everybody things can still turn out OK, but it’s not really in my personality.”

It was in Tom Lasorda’s personality. It was in Brett Butler’s.

L.A. has lost its infield and outfield chatter.

Still reeling from Sunday’s defeat, the Dodgers need someone to reassure them that, as cool as “NL WEST CHAMPIONS” might look on a T-shirt or a season-ticket brochure, “NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONS” wouldn’t exactly reek. The absurdity of this wild-card format is that the Dodgers could advance farther through the playoffs than San Diego, without having a championship to brag about unless they win two rounds.

What this team has now, in a phrase Kirby used several times Tuesday that you don’t hear every day, is “a big stone to conquer.”

By that he means the Braves, who on their last visit engaged the Dodgers in an 18-inning game on Aug. 3 that meant so much to the Dodgers they used Ramon Martinez for the final four innings in relief. (Had the Dodgers won that one, the 162nd game of the season against San Diego would have been so superfluous, they could have pitched Jesus Martinez.)

The first stone on the mound is John Smoltz, a 24-game winner for the Braves who hasn’t been this hot since--although Smoltzy still insists it never happened--years ago when the pitcher allegedly set his shirt on fire by ironing it while he was still wearing it. Throughout the 1996 season, Smoltz has been smoking, leaving Eric Karros joking, “He’s got a 95-mph fastball, a nasty slider and he throws everything on the outside part of the plate. Other than that, he’s got nothing.”

L.A. will counter with Martinez, working on, well, 47 1/2 hours’ rest. Ramon hasn’t pitched since half past 1 o’clock Sunday.

Everything being equal, the Dodgers could play 19 more games this season, although a possibility exists that three pitchers would start all 19. Pedro Astacio got insufficient credit for the splendid pitching he did Sunday, but the fact remains that if Manager Bill Russell had stuck with Martinez and gone for broke, Ismael Valdes could have pitched Game 1, then Hideo Nomo, then Martinez the opener at Atlanta. Would that have been so bad?

Spilled milk.

“We lost four games because we didn’t hit,” says Fred Claire, the Dodger vice president. “It doesn’t need to be over-analyzed.”

Worrell, who saved 44 games, says, “I can find lots of games we lost that we shouldn’t. I can point to three I personally blew for us.”

Statistics can be as misleading as perceptions. For example, experts rave about L.A.’s starting pitching, but nobody won more than 16 games, and the unlikely trio of Antonio Osuna, Scott Radinsky and Chan Ho Park won 19 of 90 Dodger victories. Defense also is seen as a Dodger strong suit, but Gagne and second baseman Delino DeShields committed 38 errors between them.

Russell starts a third baseman, Tim Wallach, and a center fielder, Kirby, who were put on waivers in midseason by other clubs. And Kirby alternates with a .212 hitter, Chad Curtis, who was practically donated to them by the worst team in baseball. Nobody in the Dodger starting infield is hitting better than .260, and the rookie left fielder, Todd Hollandsworth, is in a nasty two-for-27 slump.

No wonder Gagne wouldn’t mind a few words with everybody.

“We kind of ran out of gas,” Gagne says.

“I don’t know if talking would help. It is a quiet team. We won being quiet. If this team has a leader, it’s probably Eric Karros, so maybe he’ll say a few words before we play the Braves.”

Gagne was asked what he would say.

“What would I say? I’d say that when the Twins won the World Series, we beat St. Louis four to three, and we beat Atlanta four to three. It isn’t easy, winning. So forget about San Diego. Let’s beat these guys.”